,334. 

3' 


Letter  to  Ex— Confederates 

Carr 


t 


C.2. 


GEN.  J.  S.  CARR’S 

Letter  to  Ex-Confederates. 

— - M-»  -  ■ — - - - 


THE  OLD  SOLDIERS  WILL  NOT  BE 

DISFRANCHISED. 

THEIR  RIGHTS  ARE  SECURE  —  EXTRAVA¬ 
GANCE  AND  CORRUPTION  FOLLOW 

NEGRO  RULE. 


’ll 


p  j 


Gen.  J.  S.  Carr’s  Letter  to  Ex-Confederates 


To  the  People  of  North  Carolina  : 

The  following  letter  refers  to  some  unrest  in  the  minds  of 
some  of  the  brave  men  who  have  made  North  Carolina  the 
heir  of  their  immortal  fame. 

In  response  to  the  appeal  it  contains,  this  answer  is  given, 
and  in  behalf  of  my  fellow-citizens  of  the  great  Democratic 
party,  who  are  battling,  in  sincerity  and  in  truth,  for  the  wel¬ 
fare  of  every  good  man,  within  our  borders,  and  of  his  children 
to  the  remotest  generation  : 

Wentworth,  N.  C-,  May  7, 1900. 

Dear  General: — The  Republicans  in  this  and  Western 
counties  are  making  a  house-to-house  campaign  against  the 
Amendment,  telling  the  people  that  in  the  event  it  carries,  the 
illiterate  white  voter  will  be  disfranchised. 

The  prejudiced  being  engendered  among  this  class,  especial¬ 
ly  among  the  illiterate  sons  of  Confederate  veterans,  is  alarm¬ 
ing.  The  statement  put  to  these  men  is  about  like  this:  “You 
father  fought  four  years  for  this  country,  and  now  that  he  is 
old  and  no  longer  fit  for  use,  the  Democrats  propose  to  dis¬ 
franchise  him.”  The  Veteran  seems  to  have  a  vague  idea 
that  he  is  safe,  but  it  needs  confirmation. 

Now  I  but  voice  a  common  sentiment,  when  I  say  that  not 
only  the  Confederate  Veteran,  but  every  true  son  of  North 
Carolina  recognizes  in  you  the  champion  of  the  peoples  cause, 
and  feeling  thus,  I  beg  to  make  this  suggestion:  That  you  pub¬ 
lish  in  the  papers  a  card  of  assurance,  that  the  sons  of  a  Con¬ 
federate  Veteran  have  nothing  to  fear  at  the  hands  of  the 
Democratic  party,  and  appealing  to  them  to  stand  up  for  the 
safety  of  our  homes  and  firesides,  as  their  fathers  did  in  the 
dark  days  of  the  sixties.  Such  a  card  coming  from  you,  will 
to  my  mind  (and  in  the  opinion  of  those  whom  I  have  consult¬ 
ed)  be  worth  all  the  Amendment  literature  now  being  pub¬ 
lished. 

I  am  myself  the  son  of  a  Confederate  soldier,  who  was  one 
of  the  first  to  leave  for  the  front,  and  one  of  the  last  to  return, 
and  because  of  the  fraternal  ties  which  bound  you  men  to 
fight  a  common  enemy,  so  should  we,  their  sons,  fight  what¬ 
ever  threatens  the  peace  of  our  homes  and  firesides,  leaving 


no  stone  unturned  in  our  effort  to  thrust  aside  the  vicious,  ig¬ 
norant  element  who  threaten  us,  and  establish  a  government 
at  home,  and  a  representation  in  Washington,  worthy  of  our 
good  old  heritage. 

I  trust  you  will  find  my  zeal  a  sufficient  excuse  for  the  lib¬ 
erty  I  take  with  your  time, 

Very  respectfully, 

P.  H.  Scales. 

To  Gen.  J.  S.  Carr,  Durham,  N.  C. 

In  the  last  letter  penned  by  Thomas  Jefferson,  upon  the  eve 
of  the  fiftieth  birthday  of  American  independence,  and  the 
death- day  of  the  immortal  statesmen,  these  words  may  be 
found : 

“The  form  of  government  which  we  have  adopted,  restores 
the  free  right  to  the  unbounded  exercise  of  reasonable  free¬ 
dom  of  opinion.” 

For  this  Jefferson  toiled,  and  Washington  fought.  This  was 
the  end  of  which  the  prayers  of  women,  the  labors  of  men, 
the  struggles  of  patriots  for  seven  long  years  were  given,  that 
the  fathers  of  the  republic  might  establish  upon  the  earth  the 
government  best  adapted  to  the  happiness  of  a  free,  enligten- 
ed  and  virtuous  people. 

Conceive  the  astonishment  with  which  the  signers  of  the 
Declaration,  and  framers  of  the  Constitution,  would  have  heard 
a  prophecy  that  in  less  than  a  century  the  greater  number  of 
the  sovereign  States  that  nobly  won  their  independence  of 
foreign  control  should  impose  their  rule  upon  the  lesser  num¬ 
ber  of  the  States  of  the  South,  and  attempt  to  enforce  gov¬ 
ernmental  policy  through  the  elevation  of  the  negro  race,  up 
to  that  period  slaves,  into  political  mastership  over  the  free 
white  descendants  of  the  builders  republic ! 

Overwhelmed  by  immense  numbers,  shut  out  by  slander, 
fraud,  and  trickery  from  the  sympathy  of  mankind,  with  the 
country  desolate  with  ravaged  homes,  struggling  with  the 
pangs'of  poverty  that  followed  the  rapine  of  the  conqueror,  and 
the  exaction  of  his  taxation  to  the  last  manhood  of  the  South 
protested  against  the  ballot  for  he  negro.  It  was  hung  as  a 
millstone  upon  our  necks,  after  temptation  had  been  rejected, 
only  through  the  disfranchisment  of  our  best  and  truest  men, 
and  through  secret  military  electorial  tribunals,  whose  actions 
were  directed  by  satraps  without  responsibility  to  the  people. 


With  the  advent  of  the  negro  voter,  en  masse,  necessarily 
ignorant,  wholly  inexperienced,  and  without  political  con¬ 
science,  except  a  dim  idea  that  the  Republican  party  had 
waged  a  terrible  war,  not  for  the  economic  benefit  of  the 
North,  but  for  his  freedom,  and  might  add  thereto,  forty 
acres  and  a  mule  from  the  possessions  of  his  former  masters, 
they  became  as  a  whole  the  prey  of  unscrupulous  demagogues, 
the  carpet-bagger,  many  of  whom  migrated  to  the  South  for 
the  purpose. 

The  dreadful  consequences  of  the  governments  which  fol¬ 
lowed  throughout  the  South,  and  were  only  governments  in 
name,  but  legalized  systems  of  plunder,  in  truth,  were  felt 
everywhere.  Intelligence  and  virtue  were  prostrate  under 
the  weight  of  enormous  ignorance,  manipulated  by  cunning 
and  greed 

That  I  might  not  write  with  any  bitterness  of  personal  rec¬ 
ollection,  let  me  quote  the  words  of  Senator  McEnery  of  the 
conditon  of  Louisiana,  at  that  time,  delivered  in  the  United 
States  Senate  : 

“Negroes  became  justices  of  the  peace,  constables,  sheriffs, 
legislators,  state  officials,  lieutenant-governor,  generals  of  the 
militia.  Even  the  high  office  of  Governor  was  awarded  to  him. 
They  were  ignorant,  insolent,  and  oppressive;  and  corrupt 
beyond  mention.  The  State  debt  in  eight  years  increased  from 
four  to  fifty  million  dollars.  They  were  police  jurors  in  the 
parishes,  and  councilmen  in  the  towns  and  cities.  All  paro¬ 
chial  and  municipal  indebtedness  increased  in  the  same  pro¬ 
portion  that  the  State  debt  had  increased.  The  State  expenses 
alone  went  to  $19,000,000  a  year,  when  the  legitimate  expenses 
ought  to  have  been  then,  as  now,  one  and  a  quarter  millions  of 
dollars. 

“It  is  well  known  that  laws  were  enacted  during  recess. 
They  were  promulgated  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Legisla¬ 
ture  as  having  been  passed,  when  they  never  were  presented 
to  that  body.  The  journals  were  fraudulently  manipulated  in 
order  to  show  that  they  went  through  the  regular  course  of 
legislation.  The  courts,  as  a  rule,  were  corrupt.  Negro  jurors 
were  empaneled,  and  no  white  man  had  an  opportunity  in 
criminal  cases  for  a  fair  trial. 


“A  drunken  judge  on  the  United  States  bench  at  midnight 
signed  an  order  organizing  the  Legislature  of  the  State,  and  no 
member  was  permitted  to  enter  the  statehouse  without  «a  per¬ 
mit  signed  by  the  United  States  Marshal.  Polling  places  were 
before  dawn  taken  possession  of  by  negroes,  who  stood  in  long 
lines,  and  it  was  with  great  difficulty  and  humiliation  that  a 
white  man  could  vote.  White  men  under  arrest  for  some 
fancied  wrong  were  brought  to  the  polls  under  a  guard  of 
United  States  soldiers  to  encourage,  edify  and  amuse  the  negro 
voters. 

“The  entire  State  was  a  military  camp,  and  United  States 
troops  were  almost  daily  employed  as  political  agents.  Detach¬ 
ments  were  furnished  sheriffs  and  constables  to  make  arrests  on 
warrants  issued  by  courts  of  record  and  justices  of  the  peace. 
United  States  Marshals  forged  by  the  hundreds  the  names  of 
United  States  Commissioners  to  warrants,  and  arrested  with 
United  States  cavalry  the  most  respectable  citizens,  on  ficti¬ 
tious  charges,  and  placed  them  in  irons  and  confined  them  in 
loathsome  dungeons.  People  lived  in  terror.  Every  man  went 
armed,  expecting  an  attack  at  any  moment  from  the  negroes. 
It  was  the  pastime  of  drunken  negroes  riding  along  the  roads, 
to  fire  into  dwelling  houses.  At  the  end,  the  State  was  in  a 
pitiable  condition.  Tax  collectors  had  stolen  the  collections 
they  had  made.  The  State  Treasury  had  been  looted,  and  the 
Auditor’s  books  made  way  with,  to  prevent  prosecution. 
Warrants  on  the  Treasury  were  begging  on  the  streets,  at  20 
cents  on  the  dollar. 

“The  recollection  of  that  period  is  like  a  hell -born  dream, 
and  one  is  almost  unnerved  at  the  mention.  It  is  the  darkest 
and  most  shameful  period  in  the  history  of  the  human  race. 
The  wonder  now  is  that  by  force  it  was  not  sooner  terminated 
by  an  outraged  people.” 

The  people  of  North  Carolina  know  that  this  recital  had  its 
precise  parallel  in  our  own  State,  and  only  the  interposition  of 
one  fearless  judge  arrested  the  progress  of  a  civil  war,  for 
which  forces  were  actually,  enrolled. 

By  a  supreme  struggle  the  forces  of  good  government  ob¬ 
tained  control,  many  of  the  plunderers  fled,  and  by  toilsome 
effort,  prosperity  and  peace  returned ;  yet,  always  demanding 
sleepless  vigilance,  and  with  many  drawbacks  to  progress,  in 


[7] 

the  Eastern  section  of  the  State  especially,  from  the  existence 
of  the  large,  unintelligent,  and  corruptible  vote  in  the  populous 
negro  counties. 

Accepting  a  situation  always  deplored,  our  people  resolved 
to  conquer  by  kindness,  by  education,  by  privileges  for  the 
unfortunate.  The  record  of  the  Democratic  party  in  its  care 
of  the  negro  as  the  weaker  race  in  the  State  may  challenge 
comparison  with  that  of  his  warmest  friends  anywhere  in  the 
world.  He  was  given  an  even  proportion  of  the  hard  earned 
taxes  of  the  whites,  although  the  payment  was  as  94  to  6  for 
many  years.  He  had  the  first  institutions  especially"  built  for 
the  colored  deaf  and  dumb  and  blind,  and  insane,  in  the  history 
of  the  world.  He  has  to-day,  in  the  colored  graded  schools  of 
the  towns,  chiefly  supported  by  the  whites,  far  greater  advan¬ 
tages  than  the  white  children  of  the  country  may  hope  for,  in 
long  years  to  come. 

He  had  also  special  normal  schools  to  train  his  teachers, 
supported  by  the  State,  and  an  excellent  Agricultural  and 
Mechanical  College,  which,  though  organized  by  help  from  the 
United  States,  is  assisted  by  State  funds,  and  public  sympathy 
and  placed  under  a  faculty  wholly  of  his  own  race. 

What  was  his  response  to  all  this?  With  a  few  shining 
exceptions,  he  has  invariably  allied  himself  with  the  elements 
of  misrule  and  corruption,  and  the  mass  of  120,000  voters  of 
his  color  is  the  most  serious  menace  to  the  stability  of  institu¬ 
tions,  the  efficiency  of  law,  and  the  purity  of  legislation  in  our 
midst. 

This  was  signally  demonstrated  upon  the  first  occasion  of 
differences  of  opinion  between  white  men  formerly  together, 
upon  certain  questions  of  great  economic  interest,  giving  rise 
to  the  division  of  parties  in  1894.  The  moment  that  certain 
men  who  loved  self  more  than  their  country  or  their  race  could 
use  the  negro  as  the  balance  of  power,  evil  came  upon  the  land. 
The  negro  was  not  slow  to  demand  a  price  that  must  have 
appalled  the  very  authors  of  his  political  power.  In  a  short 
time  over  a  thousand  office  holders  of  his  race  were  found  in 
Eastern  North  Carolina ;  our  seaport  towns  were  suffering  from 
his  misrule;  women  were  unsafe  with  negro  police,  or  even 
humiliated  by  negro  school  committeemen ;  and  the  only  negro 
representative  in  the  United  States  Congress  took  his  seat  from 


a  district  whose  convention  was  so  overwhelmingly  negro  as 
to  eject  unceremoniously  the  white  men  who  had  out-Heroded 
Herod  in  surrendering  their  pride  of  race  in  the  mad  thirst  for 
place. 

The  negro,  unfortunately,  is  less  fitted  for  suffrage  and  office 
to-day  than  he  was  a  generation  ago.  The  old  instruction  and 
discipline  of  the  master  has  vanished ;  the  negro  father,  busy 
in  making  his  living  at  the  best,  and  often  given  up  to  vice, 
usually  fails  in  moral  training  for  his  offspring,  and  we  have  a 
vast  body  of  the  race,  diverging  into  idleness,  dissipation,  vice 
and  crime.  There  is  now  universal  complaint  of  the  scarcity 
of  reliable  labor. 

Far  be  it  from  me  to  stir  up  unworthy  prejudice  against  the 
negro  because  he  is  not  a  white  man.  He  was  loyal  and  faith¬ 
ful  during  the  war ;  and  there  are  yet  old  friends  among  his 
race  whom  I  shall  honor  for  one,  all  the  days  of  their  lives. 
And  there  are  men  of  the  race  of  virtue  and  intelligence,  and 
interested  in  the  security  of  property  and  wise  administration* 
These  men  will  suffer  nothing  by  the  Amendment. 

And  more,  because  in  my  make  up,  Providence  has  so  con¬ 
stituted  me,  that  by  nature,  I  am  for  the  “under  dog  in  the 
fight,”  for  the  weak  as  against  the  strong.  I  have  always 
cherished  a  kindly  interest  for  the  colored  race,  so  much  so, 
that  sometimes,  I  have  perhaps,  with  good  reason,  given  my 
white  friends  just  cause  for  criticism,  and  yet  I  make  no 
apologies.  I  am  proud  to  believe  that  the  colored  man  in  the 
South  regards  me  as  his  friend,  and  I  am  glad  to  be  in  position 
to  state  that  I  enjoy  their  confidence  to  that  extent,  that,  per¬ 
haps  no  man  in  the  South  receives  so  much  correspondence 
from  the  Negro  race,  as  I  do,  and  yet  I  have  never  failed  to 
advise  them,  that  when  they  conceive  that  their  interest  leads 
them  to  think  and  act,  contrary  to  the  best  interest  of  the 
White  race  in  the  Southern  States,  they  were  only  turning 
their  faces  toward  the  “setting  sun,”  of  their  people.  Iam 
yet  their  friends  and  profess  to  feel  a  peculiar  interest  in  their 
welfare. 

But  on  the  whole,  the  negro  is  a  child,  and  like  a  child,  loves 
to  play  with  fire.  We  cannot  risk  the  safety  of  the  household 
longer.  We  will  guard  and  protect  his  interests  safely,  but 
we  will  govern,  according  to  the  will  of  the  Creator  who  made 
the  diverse  races,  as  we  honestly  believe. 


Nowhere  else  on  the  globe,  does  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  per¬ 
mit  the  possible  turning  of  the  house  up-side  down  by  negro 
balance  of  power  overwhite  civilization.  Hayti  and  Liberia  are 
object  lesssos  for  mankind.  Few  are  the  negroes  from  this 
country  who  reach  either  without  longing  to  get  away. 

Nor  is  there  any  State  of  this  Union  from  Maine  to  Oregon, 
that  would  submit  to  the  introduction  of  the  negro  element, 
in  sufficient  number  to  control  its  government  and  fill  its 
offices,  break  up  its  established  polity,  and  imperil  its  financial 
safety.  Self  -preservation,  in  the  last  analysis,  would  command 
4lthe  survival  of  the  fittest.” 

It  is  therefore  sheer  ignorance,  or  arrant  hypocrisy  that 
would  cry  out  against  the  adoption  of  the  Constitutional 
Amendment  on  our  part.  For  we  will  not  submit  to  a  great 
upheaval  of  society,  to  preserve  our  civilization,  the  honor  of 
our  firesides  and  the  prospects  of  our  children,  at  every  recurr¬ 
ing  election.  We  are  tired  of  the  insolent  boasts  of  the  negro 
Congressman  who  has  himself  drawn  the  color  line  in  his 
own  party  conventions,  official  appointments,  and  outrageous 
language,  even  toward  his  white  republican  allies. 

Nor  will  we  longer  bear  this  burden,  which  is  a  hideous 
mockery  of  representative  freedom.  A  child  without  judg¬ 
ment,  knowledge  or  discretion,  cannot  be  suffered  longer  to 
be  led  by  demagogues  to  use  the  brute  strength  of  votes  shifted 
en  masse  by  trickery  or  petty  corruption.  We  will  not  hang 
the  promise  of  suffrage  before  his  eyes  and  filch  it  away,  nor 
drive  him  by  force  from  the  polls.  But  we  will  protect  the 
purity  of  suffrage,  as  Massachusetts  and  other  States  have 
done,  through  educational  or  other  requirements,  and  when  he 
is  fit  to  exercise  the  privilege  and  not  before,  will  we  consent. 
There  are  no  evasions  to  make — no  concealments  to  effect — we 
are  determined  to  demand  and  to  secure  white  supremacy. 

Will  the  adoption  of  the  Amendment  effect  the  result  de¬ 
sired?  Let  us  reply  in  the  language  again  of  Senator  McEnery: 

‘‘Under  white  rule  the  State  recovered  rapidly.  Levees 
were  rebuilt ;  bonds  have  gone  above  par.  The  State  Treasury 
is  full.  Schools  are  prosperous  for  white  and  colored.  Peace 
prevails  everywhere.  The  whites  and  negroes  are  on  cordial 
terms.  Crime  has  decreased ;  the  courts  impartially  adminis¬ 
ter  justice.  White  immigrants  from  the  West  have  come  to 


[  10  ] 

\ 

Louisiana  in  large  numbers,  where  only  the  corrupt  carpet¬ 
bagger  ventured  before .  Annual  the  legislation  of  the 

State  which  has  for  its  sole  object  the  advancement  of  both 
races,  and  the  tragic  period  of  1876  would  be  re-enacted.  The 
white  Republicans  make  no  complaint  against  the  pro¬ 
visions  of  the  present  constitution  regarding  suffrage.  The 
more  intelligent  negroes  accept  it  as  a  wise  settlement  of  the 
question  of  suffrage.  The  ignorant  of  the  negro  race  are  in¬ 
different  about  it,  as  they  have  long  ceased  to  have  any  po¬ 
litical  affiliations  except  as  created  by  the  purchase  of  their 
vote.” 

The  next  inquiry  made  by  those  who  fear  to  lose  the  ladder 
up  which  they  have  climbed  to  seats,  once  to  be  reached  only 
by  the  voice  of  intelligent  freemen  of  the  white  race,  is  the 
question,  will  the  courts  sustain  the  Amendment  as  permissi¬ 
ble  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States?  Time  need  not 
be  absorbed  in  the  discussion  of  this  point.  Senator  Morgan, 
the  greatest  constitutional  authority  in  the  Senate,  has  affimed 
it  in  extented  argument,  and  the  best  men  of  the  profession  in 
our  State  have  shown  its  consistency  with  the  Constitution  of 
the  Union. 

Why  so  much  concern  for  the  constitutionality  of  the 
Amendment  on  the  part  of  those  who  oppose  it?  Why,  if  so 
well  satisfied  that  the  best  legal  minds  are  wrong,  and  the 
judgment  of  trained  statesmen  is  valueless,  before  their  own 
opinions,  and  desires,  do  not  they  rather  rejoice  in  the  blunder 
of  the  Democratic  party,  soon  to  see  its  works  undone? 

No,  their  anxiety  is  not  for  a  broken  Constitution  and  a  dis¬ 
appointed  Democracy ;  they  will  lose  no  sleep  grieving  over 
our  check ;  it  is  only  that  they  dread  to  render  up  the  talent 
they  have  misused — to  see  the  day  of  reckoning  come,  and  the 
opportunity  forever  lost  of  holding  place  and  power,  through 
the  hosts  of  the  ignorant  negro,  blind  to  his  interest,  deceived 
by  his  corruptors,  mislead  by  the  arts  of  the  demagogue  who 
sacrifices  principle,  society,  and  virtue  for  a  mess  of  pottage  1 

The  fears  of  such  men  for  the  constitutionality  of  the  Amend¬ 
ment  can  only  amuse — they  can  no  longer  deceive. 

My  friends  recognize  that  I  am  no  lawyer  qualified  to  dis¬ 
cuss  constitutional  questions.  I  would  not  if  I  could,  I  could 
not  if  I  would,  but  I  do  most  solemnly  affirm  that  the  peace 


C  11  ] 

and  prosperity  of  the  State,  the  safety  of  om  homes  and  fire¬ 
sides,  the  welfare  of  the  white  race  and  the  black  race  in 
thunder  tones  demand  the  adoption  of  the  Amendment,  and  to 
me  these  are  sufficient.  I  pray  that  the  Amendment  may  be 
constitutional  for  these  reasons. 

But  there  is  one  feature  of  the  opposition  which  deserves 
severe  condemnation.  It  is  the  attempt  to  mislead  the  people 
by  the  assertion  that  there  is  danger  that  white  men  who  are 
illiterate  are  to  be  thrown  out,  and  by  this  discrimination  class 
government  formed. 

The  folly  of  this  accusation  is  only  equaled  by  its  absurdity. 
Centuries  of  heredity  are  behind  rhe  white  man  who  may  be 
illiterate — his  associations,  instincts,  traditions,  are  all  educa¬ 
tive  of  the  better  part  of  man,  the  conscience  and  the  will. 
The  habit  of  hearing  both  sides  discussed,  of  attending  the 
courts,  of  mingling  with  his  fellow  white  man  of  like  feelings 
and  aspirations,  and  his  social  position  in  life,  place  a  great 
gulf  between  him  and  the  negro,  in  regard  to  the  best  elements 
of  education,  which  is  not  book-knowledge,  but  the  drawing 
out  or  development  of  character.  Besides  these,  he  has  his 
God-given  patent  of  race,  with  all  its  inheritance. 

The  every  day  man  of  the  plough,  the  poor  white  man  in  the 
country,  if  you  please,  is  the  salt  of  this  republic.  He  mastered 
the  Indian,  he  was  by  Morgan’s  side  with  his  trusty  rifle,  he 
slew  the  Tories  of  Kings  Mountain.  In  my  generation  he  won 
the  bloody  day  of  Fredericksburg  and  a  hundred  like  it,  and 
died  in  the  trenches  at  Petersburg— he  shed  immortal  glory 
upon  North  Carolina  at  Fort  Fisher,  and  baptized  New  Bern, 
Kinston,  Plymouth  and  Bentonsville  with  his  blood.  I  have 
lain  by  his  side  a  private  in  the  ranks,  in  our  scanty  blanket 
under  the  watching  stars— I  have  eaten  with  him  the  parched 
corn,  and  when  his  brother  was  stricken  at  my  side,  have 
closed  his  eyelids  down  in  the  repose  that  comes  to  him  who 
hath  done  his  duty  well.  Tell  me  not  that  the  great  Demo¬ 
cratic  party  of  North  Carolina  will  ever  suffer  an  injustice  to 
the  grandest,  largest,  most  unselfish  of  all  her  people,  the  plain 
every  day  man  “who  knows  his  rights,  and  knowing,  dares 
maintain !" 

On  the  contrary,  the  Democratic  party,  speaking  through  the 
proposed  Constitutional  Amendment,  has  expressly  declared 


[  12  ] 

that  the  uneducated  white  man  shall  not  be  denied  the  right  to 
Tote ;  it  has  created  of  them  in  recognition  of  their  services, 
and  the  illustrious  record  of  themselves  and  their  fore  fathers, 
a  favored  class ;  he  can  vote  whether  he  can  read  or  write. 
The  Republicans,  seeing  the  great  care  of  the  Democratic  party 
to  preserve  to  these  people  their  franchise  rights,  undertakes 
to  degrade  them  from  their  high  plane  and  put  them  on  equality 
with  the  negro;  and  to  deceive  and  mislead  them  by  the  cry 
that  the  Amendment  will  disfranchise  the  “poor  white  man 
the  negro !”  The  Democratic  party  put  and  preserves  the  uned¬ 
ucated  white  man  on  a  higher  plane ;  forever  draws  the  line  of 
separation  between  him  and  the  negro.  The  Republican  party 
classes  them  together ;  that  party  regards  one  as  no  better  than 
the  other. 

The  Amendment  challenges  the  support  of  every  well-wisher 
of  his  fellowman,  irrespective  of  party.  It  is  embodied  com¬ 
mon  sense.  It  is,  in  the  most  straight-forward  way,  a  proposi¬ 
tion  for  the  permanence,  protection  and  lasting  benefit  of  every 
substantial  business,  and  deserves  the  support  of  the  sensible 
business  men  on  the  ground  of  enlightened  self-interest,  no  less 
than  of  patriotic  devotion  to  the  State. 

The  honest  Republican  should  support  it,  because  its  adop¬ 
tion  will  so  far  take  the  negro  out  of  politics  as  to  enable  him 
to  present  the  views  of  his  party  without  the  danger  of,  and 
odium  attached  to,  black  domination. 

The  sincere  populist  should  vote  for  it,  because  as  a  measure 
of  reform  it  is  in  line  with  his  aspirations  for  improvement  in 
legislation,  and  is  in  direct  opposition  to  monopoly,  which 
triumphs  by  use  of  votes  that  can  be  purchased. 

The  Democrat  who  is  worthy  of  the  name  will  not  only  vote 
for  it,  but  work  for  it  to  the  triumphant  end  of  victory,  for  the 
sake  of  all  that  he  holds  dear  in  the  civilization  received  from 
his  fathers,  the  preservation  of  republican  liberty,  the  hopes 
and  happiness  of  the  generations  to  come. 

The  patriot  of  whatever  shade  of  political  opinion  upon 
policies  where  division  of  sentiment  is  possible,  may  well  unite, 
ought  to  unite  with  the  men  of  his  race  who  have  resolved, 
once  and  for  all,  to  set  the  corner-stone  of  government  in  its 
old  foundation,  committing  it  as  Jefferson  had  it,  to  those  only 
who  have  the  “exercise  of  reason  and  freedom  of  opinion.” 


t  13  ] 

We  need  it  by  every  consideration  of  policy  no  less  than  of 
right.  It  will  tranqnilize  labor,  and  send  the  cross  roads  negro 
politicians  back  to  the  support  of  his  family,  now  crowding  the 
county  homes,  or  forming  a  new  army  of  mendicants  on  our 
streets.  In  this  respect  the  negro  who  loves  the  welfare  of  his 
own  race  might  well  hail  the  removal  of  the  apple  of  Sodom, 
which,  however  gaudy  in  outward  show,  has  in  the  eating 
brought  only  ashes  and  bitterness  to  him. 

Again,  it  will  so  stimulate  education,  in  the  eight  years’ 
interval  for  preparation,  that  those  who  have  long  toiled  to  this 
end  will  rejoice  in  the  magnificent  awakening  of  the  common¬ 
wealth,  and  the  development  of  her  grandest  resources:  the 
intelligence,  skill  and  virtue  of  her  children.  To  that  end  the 
Democratic  party  stands  pledged  by  every  consideration  of 
State  pride  and  self-respect. 

It  will  freely  open  the  purse-strings  of  the  State,  until  every 
child  in  our  midst  shall  enjoy  the  four  months  of  school  term 
contemplated  by  the  Constitution,  aye,  and  more.  There  shall 
be  no  boy  so  humble  and  obscure,  that  in  eight  years  he  may 
not  have  the  opportunity,  if  he  wills,  to  qualify  himself  for 
suffrage,  and  at  the  same  time  put  on  the  educational  armor 
that  will  be  his  strength  and  support  in  the  struggle  to  improve 
his  position  and  win  his  way  in  life. 

And  side  by  side  with  that  march  to  the  front  will  be  found 
those  from  abroad  eager  to  share  in  the  new  prosperity,  and 
capital  will  be  glad  to  seek  the  shelter  of  laws  made  for  the 
common  good ;  no  longer  shifted  by  every  whim  of  the  evil 
spirits  who  direct  the  huge  make-weight  of  a  vote  that  repre¬ 
sents  no  opinion,  no  reason,  no  conscience,  no  intelligent  will, 
but  solely  blind  power  mistakenly  misplaced  in  the  delicate 
wheels  of  our  political  life. 

Unable  to  meet  the  issue  in  fair  debate,  the  opponents  of  this 
safe  guard  against  tyranny  from  a  political  boss  or  the  anarchy 
of  an  ignorant  mob,  maddened  at  the  prospect  of  judgment 
upon  their  betrayal  of  the  people  for  a  mess  of  pottage,  have 
dared  to  leave  argument,  to  resort  to  threats. 

In  the  effort  to  extort  from  our  fears  what  cannot  be  won 
from  our  judgment,  we  are  told  that  Congress  is  to  be  invoked, 
that  if  need  be,  the  military  arm  is  to  surround  the  polls,  per¬ 
haps  to  repeat  the  injury  and  outrage  which  exists  to-day  in 


[ 14  ]  • 

the  bull-pen  of  Idaho.  That,  at  least,  is  the  reasonable  infer¬ 
ence  behind  the  cloudy  rhetoric  that  talks  of  driving  from  the 
State  its  free-born  citizens. 

As  to  the  threats  of  Federal  influence,  there  is  no  good  man 
who  loves  his  people  and  his  State,  and  who  sees  our  duty  in 
this  crisis,  who  will  not  fling  back  the  taunt  of  scorn,  and  in 
the  words  of  Alexander  Stephens,  of  immortal  memory,  reply : 

“I  am  afraid  of  nothing  on  earth,  or  above  the  earth,  or  under 
the  earth  but  to  do  wrong.  The  path  of  duty  I  shall  endeavor 
to  travel,  fearing  no  evil  and  dreading  no  consequences.  I 
would  rather  be  defeated  in  a  good  cause,  than  to  triumph  in 
a  bad  one.  I  would  not  give  a  fig  for  a  man  who  would  shrink 
from  the  discharge  of  duty  for  fear  of  defeat.  ” 

We  will  not  split  hairs  with  the  officers  of  the  black  battalion 
of  1896.  All  together,  in  line,  leaving  all  other  things  aside, 
for  the  Amendment  and  the  supreme  welfare  of  the  people. 

At  the  last  we  are  told  that  the  Supreme  court  will  treat  the 
Amendment  as  a  nullity,  and  the  struggle  will  have  been  in 
vain. 

But  behind  the  Supreme  court  is  a  power  that  is  greater 
than  a  monarch  upon  the  throne.  It  envelops  men  by  an  irre¬ 
sistible  influence,  it  enters  their  mental  constitution,  as  the 
very  atmosphere  of  thought.  That  is  the  power  of  righteous 
public  opinion.  Like  gravitation,  it  sweeps  each  fact  to  its 
own  place,  in  the  realm  of  action.  The  Chinese  may  not  di¬ 
rect  the  affairs  of  society  in  the  Pacific  coast,  or  the  Indian  in 
the  West,  or  even  the  native  Hawaiian  in  its  own  island ;  so  the 
hour  has  come  when  we  may  challenge  mankind  as  against 
negro  rule,  in  any  form. 

Perhaps  no  man  ever  studied  the  institutions  of  this  country 
with  closer  appreciation,  or  keener  insight  into  the  dangers 
that  beset  this  effort  of  man  after  self-government  than  Mon¬ 
tesquieu,  and  his  dictum  remains  unassailable : 

“The  chief  end  of  all  States  should  be  the  security  to  each 
member  of  the  community  of  all  those  absolute  rights  which 
are  vested  in  them  by  the  immutable  laws  of  nature.” 

True,  and  in  this  hour,  we  fall  back  upon  those  “laws  of 
nature,”  to  reach  that  security,  in  whose  absence  trade  lan¬ 
guishes,  institutions  suffer,  society  is  disorganized,  capital 
takes  wings,  crime  is  rampant,  the  weak  are  trampled  upon, 


t  15  ] 

the  home  is  outraged,  the  freedom  of  the  citizens  invaded, 
property  confiscated,  and  society  with  all  its  interests  set  upon 
an  inclined  plane  whose  bottom  is  chaos. 

The  Democratic  party  since  its  earliest  history,  has  been 
conspicuous,  as  the  champion  of  civil  as  well  as  of  righteous 
liberty ;  the  defender  of  the  weak  as  against  the  strong.  It 
has  always  been  insisting  upon  the  widest  freedom  of 
opinion,  and  the  fullest  expression  of  thought.  Its 
leaders  largely  constitute  the  influential  members  of  soci¬ 
ety  in  every  walk  of  life  and  in  every  avocation.  The 
rank  and  file  of  the  party  are  largely  the  State’s  best  citi¬ 
zens,  and  can  be  safely  trusted,  to  meet  the  grave  issue  that 
has  been  forced  upon  the  party  until  final  judgment  shall  be 
pronounced  in  favor  of  White  Supremacy.  I  appeal  to  the 
sovereigns  of  a  State,  where  the  sparks  of  civil  liberty  was 
born,  whose  patriotic  forefathers,  many'  months  before  Jeffer¬ 
son  wrote  the  immortal  Declaration  of  Independence,  had  pro¬ 
mulgated  a  Bill  of  Rights,  that  embodied  the  same  principles, 
and  that  gave  to  history  a  Guilford  Court  House,  that  guaran¬ 
teed  the  results  at  Yorktown. 

I  speak  in  behalf  of  a  commonwealth  which  in  the  60’ s 
counted  a  voting  population  of  only  116,000  yet  when  the  cry 
went  out  that  Southern  homes  and  Southern  liberties  were 
threatened,  placed  125,000  of  her  brave  sons,  fully  panoplied 
for  war  upon  the  battlefield. 

And  40,000  of  these  devoted  North  Carolinians,  either  sleep 
the  dreamless  sleep  of  death  in  a  hero  soldier’s  grave  or  maim¬ 
ed  and  woundad  live  among  us  to-day,  witnesses  of  what  valor 
can  endure.  I  appeal  to  the  sovereigns  of  such  a  State  with 
such  a  record. 

I  speak  to  the  glorious  remnant  of  an  army  that  stretched 
from  Bethel  to  Appomattox,  writing  such  pages  with  its  blood 
as  astonish  the  Muse  of  History  as  she  hastens  to  preserve  them 
as  the  tidal  record  of  human  heroism. 

They  who  give  to  the  world  most  magnificent  example  of  pa¬ 
tient  endurance  and  sublime  sacrifice  for  principle  known  to  the 
ages,  will  not  fail  the  mother  State  which  they  have  glorified 
forever. 

Nor  will  North  Carolina  tarnish  her  escutcheon  with  an  in¬ 
justice  to  the  heroes  of  the  battle-cross,  nay,  nor  to  their  chil- 


[  16  ] 

dren.  They  are  our  jewels,  those  children.  They  are  safe  in 
the  casket  of  the  love  of  the  people.  To  save  them  from  alien 
domination,  we  call  upon  the  fathers  in  this  hour ! 

Leading  as  we  are  the  grand  procession  of  industrial  prog¬ 
ress,  with  yet  undeveloped  mines  of  untold  wealth,  with  water 
powers  singing  ceasless  idle  hours,  unharnessed,  hence,  un¬ 
profitable,  but  capable  of  making  of  themselves  the  State  rich, 
with  miles  and  miles  of  timber  lands,  waiting  for  the  trans¬ 
forming  hand  of  capital,  with  a  climate  unsurpassed,  lets’  em¬ 
brace  the  opportunity  to  clear  away  the  only  barrier,  tha.t 
prevents  our  being  a  great  and  happy  people.  Not  with  any 
desire  to  oppress  the  weak,  or  wish  to  take  advantage  of  posi¬ 
tion  and  say,  “might  makes  right,”  but  because  North  Caro¬ 
lina  is  pre-eninently  the  home  of  the  proud  Anglo-Saxon,  with 
less  admixture  of  race  here  than  elsewhere  for  the  same  popu¬ 
lation  in  the  world,  let’s  resolve,  that  our  ballots  shall  be  as 
our  skins,  and  that  we  will  draw  our  swords  and  fling  away 
the  scabbards  and  swear  upon  the  naked  steel,  that  North 
Carolina  shall  be  free. 

As  Mr.  Cleveland  has  remarked  in  another  connection,  “I 
have  written  under  the  sanction  of  that  freedom  of  speech 
which  Thomas  Jefferson  placed  among  the  cardinal  factors  of 
our  Democratic  creed. 

My  loving  regards  abide  with  all  who  are  in  sympathy  with, 
and  who  are  laboring  for  the  success  of  the  Constitutional 
Amendment.  g  Your  most  obedient  servant, 

J.  S.  CARR. 


"■  )r  u:-::  'yysM  *';  7:-.,\vV,;.v:?a!;-. 

'V.  !';.,: „•■;■■■  ■■ '  i,  .  -■  ■.;'’>■•  -.v  • 

■  '  <  ’  i  ’■  .  'A 

: 

te  ;«wte « |Ms  isfe  !?  -fy  r  T  <y 1 ?  m 

4  #.*»  .^v  W4  -*,6 :/•■',*,  ? 2#£$> >mM id'-* 


Sag  ■»-  •  ;;•{•'.•  •  •  <  •  41*.  "•  *i*.V '  •  *:!/  ’*•  •'  m/'  ?.;•?  .,r 

UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  WLL  ^  .  / 


fjSWfcFS  .  ;  .,  ; 

'CwT  £$&•  ■••’«  *  V '  '  V  ’  J».  :J~ 


iW 


>>  'V 


BL 

gnRMKUnHP^HRPHRPi  „  P| 

«!$«&'  ,.*••  v 

Jsf4a  '■  Jf,  vV  ‘V* ' ' 

/’  i’fsjw 


•V 


wmmm 

SJS&ltffySEt  gjrafcjh  >  >: 


j*-;. 


fp&i 


‘  fcifi; . .' A.’  *3i) 

.<•'•  vr iji/  ■■> 

i-v 


v W  fM 


rX»®W*3  \ 


t7*V  *-  '  ■*  '  .  l.i  .  •  *«  -*  --  «-  •-■•  ■-, 

•/>'  '$?: 
;■/- 

•i  1% • \  .iff'  '•  -. f  I'  •.'•'•>*!<'  •••> 

■'•  /Y'^'VvTH'  'J.’u’v.'WPi,  : ■  '  . 


-w1  r v  ' / 

r.-:  \/:\y..-;_ 


,lf£ 


00037537629 

FOR  USE  ONLY  IN 

THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  COLLECTION 


$  :0 


lli 


1H1S  TITLE  HAS  BEEN  MICROFILMED 


■r  "J 
i  >\‘  ■■ 


i'v.  ',1m 


